Summer is here. Most schools are closed for the summer. However, most school leaders and principals work over the summer. It is important that school leaders and principals catch their breath and recharge their leadership battery.
Although the work never ends, recharging your leadership battery and creating margin are very important to your leadership development and longevity. Leaders must stop to recharge or you risk running out of gas or worse burnout.
John Maxwell, in his book The 21 Irrefutable Laws of Leadership, reminded us of the “Law of the Lid,” which states that your leadership ability determines your potential to be effective. In other words, how well you lead determines how well you will succeed. Having a commitment to growth and personal improvement is the only way to improve as a leader.
John said, “Once a leader improves his or her life, then everybody within their sphere of influence, their lives improve.” How you spend your summer months could define how effective you are in the new school year. What you do over the summer will have a significant impact on your school or district in the new school year.
As you plan for the next school school, remember that effective school leaders are not measured by how much they accomplish or got done from August to June, but rather, how their students grow and thrive year after year. How their schools are making progress from year to year.
In the summer months, it is essential for school leaders and principals to reflect, innovate, and strategize on making the next school year successful.
The following are seven things effective school leaders and principals do over the summer to prepare for a successful school year.
Reconnect & Recharge
With the summer being here, it is a chance to slow down, catch your breath, and concentrate on what you need to be the best school leader or principal you can be for the next school year and beyond.
Think of the summer break as a time where you can build up or recharge your “resilience bank.”
Your resilience bank is the knowledge, mindsets, and leadership practices you need to grow in to tackle the challenges you will face when school resumes.
As the saying goes, you can’t pour from an empty cup.
Taking time to recharge over the summer is crucial for developing a stronger and more effective career in school leadership.
During the summer, it's important to prioritize healthy habits like self-care, taking a break from work, relaxing, going on vacation with your family, and enjoying some downtime. Use this time to disconnect from your regular routine, focus on yourself, and spend quality time with family and friends. Make sure to set aside some alone time for activities that bring you joy, peace of mind, and create margin in your life.
It is also a time to decrease the amount of time you spent on social media and discover what brings you joy.
Dive into your hobbies for a change of pace. Begin a new workout routine and improve your health.
Taking some time for yourself will help to reduce stress and leave you feeling refreshed when you return.
Self-care is not selfish. Prioritizing your physical and mental health is important for personal and professional growth.
Reflect on the Previous Year’s Achievements and Challenges
The summer is perhaps the only time principals can sit and reflect without the usual distractions and fires to put out. It is a good time to review the previous year’s academic performance data, student behavior, attendance, and the effectiveness of your programs, curriculum, and initiatives.
You can do it by yourself or with your team by asking the following questions:
- What went well this year?
- What needs more focus next year?
- What do we need to stop doing to move forward?
- To accomplish our goals for the next school year, what needs to be true about our behavior and actions as a team? As a staff?
- Where do I need to grow as a leader to ensure we are in a much stronger position one year from now?
By asking these questions, you can identify areas that need improvement and those that were successful. This analysis will help you understand where you excelled and where you need to improve. It will allow you to make informed decisions, set priorities for the new year, establish realistic SMART goals, and create strategies for the upcoming year.
Schedule Your Priorities
The late Management guru Peter Drucker once said, “what gets measured, gets managed.” Perhaps you have heard it this way: “What gets scheduled, gets accomplished.” This means you should schedule your priorities for the summer and the upcoming school year after reviewing your school data and initiatives. Take time to establish your priorities and pencil them into your calendar.
Personally, I schedule classroom walkthroughs (speedy walks) and collaborative walks with my team. Additionally, I schedule professional development and PLCs time, assessment schedules, and meetings with my administrative and leadership team. I also allocate time for bi-monthly meetings with my instructional coaches and plan uninterrupted time for emails and phone calls.
Whatever your priorities are, make sure to schedule them during the summer to prepare for the new school year.
Learn and Grow
John F. Kennedy once said, “Leadership and learning are indispensable to each other.” If you do not make an effort to continuously learn in your leadership role, you will stop growing.
There are several ways you can expand your leadership knowledge and skills:
- Professional development (PD) opportunities
How are you supporting yourself and your staff to be successful in your professional endeavors?
With extra free time over the summer, you can take the opportunity for professional development and self-reflection.
You can recharge your leadership batteries and gain fresh insights by attending conferences and workshops. They will offer you opportunities to learn new ideas and best practices. You can also learn about management strategies and techniques. It’s also a great way to connect with other educators and leaders.
- Read a book about leadership strategies
You can read a book that is aligned with the school’s curriculum and goals, or an area of focus. Reading, according to John Maxwell, is “The difference between who you are today and who you will be in five years.”
Make time to read over the summer.
- Join a Professional Learning Network (PLN)
Joining a Professional learning network or organization allows you to learn, connect, and sharpen your skills with other leaders across your field.
Learning from and with others will allow you to see different perspectives, listen to new ideas, share your thoughts, and ultimately propel you to grow.
- Reflect and Adapt
As a leader, reflecting on your past mistakes is crucial for growth. The best teacher is experience. Take time to reflect and learn.
John Dewey shared, “We do not learn from experience….we learn from reflecting on experience.” You must recognize that the more reflective you are, the more impactful you will become.
Self-reflection must become a regular habit. The amount and frequency of reflection may vary but making it a consistent part of your work is essential for growth.
Engage in regular self-reflection to assess your leadership style, strengths, and areas for development. Be open and willing to adapt your approach based on new insights and changing circumstances.
- Subscribe to leadership blogs and podcasts
People are talking and sharing ideas and tips about leadership these days. Participate, listen, and contribute to the discussion to learn and grow as a leader.
Growing as a leader is not difficult. But it does require an intentional effort on your part.
Listen to The School Leader’s Podcast for practical leadership ideas and subscribe to the newsletter to receive our monthly newsletter for more tips and ideas.
Identify High Performing Teachers
Often, as school leaders and principals, we focus on helping and allocating resources to improve on low-performing teachers. While it is important to do so, a more effective approach is to focus on your superstar teachers, those who are high-performing.
This summer, think about your high-performing teachers, your “rock stars”, your “superstars.” How can you support them and push them to even greater heights?
How can you position them as mentor teachers? Here are a few ideas:
- Pair high-performing teachers with new or low-performing teachers.
- Arrange for other teachers to visit or observe the classes of rock star teachers.
- Record the lessons of high-performing teachers to use as helpful resources.
- Ask your high-performing teachers to lead professional development and/or PLC meetings and teach their areas of strength to others.
When you support your best teachers, they’re able to inspire and uplift other teachers in your building.
Make the most of your rock star teachers.
Seek Out Coaching & Mentorship
As you reflect over the summer, you might discover that one of the missing ingredients in your growth journey is a solid support system. Finding or seeking a trusted coach and mentor who understands the work of a school leader or principal and who can support your growth and development is very important.
You can reach out to previous bosses, supervisors, leaders within the organization, and anyone you admire.
No leader is an island, and effective leaders prioritize making connections and engaging with others. The same goes for you. You cannot do this work alone.
Seek mentorship from experienced leaders and coaches who can offer guidance, support, and valuable insights. Learn from their experiences and leverage their expertise to accelerate your growth as a leader.
Connect with Stakeholders
Take advantage of the summer to reach out and connect to your staff. You can take time to speak to clerical staff, cafeteria manager, security staff, teacher assistants, support staff, and teachers.
Spend time listening to their perspectives, ideas, and areas of improvement. Ask open-ended questions and affirm the role each of them plays in creating a high-performing culture.
Lastly, you can reach out to community stakeholders and partners. This is an excellent opportunity to engage with your city's mayor, commissioners, and other governmental officials.
Connect with business partners to explore ways to strengthen your partnership and create a win-win situation.
Ponder on this: I challenge you to break your leadership lid.
The good news is that the law of the lid has room for flexibility. It would be unwise to believe that your current leadership abilities are as good as you will ever be. Every leader has growth potential, but achieving it requires dedication and a willingness to put in the work.
To improve the culture of your school or organization, you need to elevate your leadership lid.
To enhance the success of your school, district, or organization, you need to elevate your leadership lid.
To improve student achievement, you need to lift the lid.
To improve the effectiveness of teachers and staff, you need to elevate your leadership lid.
To improve your effectiveness as a leader, you need to raise your leadership lid.
-Dr. Harrigan
Stay up-to-date by signing up for our monthly newsletter. Make sure you subscribe (button on the top right) so you don’t miss any future posts.
